Table of Contents

Police Use of Force in Metro-Dade, Florida, and Eugene and Springfield, Oregon, 1993-1995 (ICPSR 3152)

Principal Investigator(s):Alpert, Geoffrey P., University of South Carolina; Dunham, Roger G., University of Miami

Summary:

This study gathered data on police use of force in
Metro-Dade, Florida, and Eugene and Springfield, Oregon. The study
differed from previous research in that it addressed the level of
force used by the police relative to the suspect's level of
resistance. The data for Metro-Dade (Part 1) were collected from
official Metro-Dade Police Department Control of Persons Reports from
the last quarter of 1993 and all of 1994 and 1995. The Eugene and
Springfield dataset (Part 2) was created from items in the Police
Officers' Essential P... (more info)

This study gathered data on police use of force in
Metro-Dade, Florida, and Eugene and Springfield, Oregon. The study
differed from previous research in that it addressed the level of
force used by the police relative to the suspect's level of
resistance. The data for Metro-Dade (Part 1) were collected from
official Metro-Dade Police Department Control of Persons Reports from
the last quarter of 1993 and all of 1994 and 1995. The Eugene and
Springfield dataset (Part 2) was created from items in the Police
Officers' Essential Physical Work Report Form, which was completed by
members of the Eugene and Springfield, Oregon, Police Departments
during April 1995. The dataset includes all police-citizen contacts,
rather than being limited to the use-of-force situations captured by
the Metro-Dade data. In Part 1 (Metro-Dade Data), information on the
subject includes impairment (i.e., alcohol and drugs), behavior
(i.e., calm, visibly upset, erratic, or highly agitated), level of
resistance used by the subject, types of injuries to the subject, and
types of force used by the subject. Information on the officer
includes level of force used, medical treatment, and injuries. Other
variables include ethnic match between officer and the subject and
relative measures of force. Demographic variables include age,
gender, race, and ethnicity of both the subject and the officer. In
Part 2 (Oregon Data), information is provided on whether the officer
was alone, how work was initiated, elapsed time until arrival,
reasons for performance, perceived mental state and physical
abilities of the suspect, amount and type of resistance by the
suspect, if another officer assisted, perceived extent of effort used
by the suspect, type of resistance used by the suspect, if the
officer was knocked or wrestled to the ground, if the officer
received an injury, level of effort used to control the suspect,
types of control tactics used on the suspect, whether the officer was
wearing tactical gear, how restraint devices were applied to inmate,
time taken to get to, control, resolve, and remove the problem, how
stressful the lead-up time or the period following the incident was,
if the officer worked with a partner, types of firearm used, and if
force was used. Demographic variables include age, gender, weight,
and height of both the suspect and officer, and the officer's duty
position.

Access Notes

The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public.
Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

Study Description

Citation

Alpert, Geoffrey P., and Roger G. Dunham. POLICE USE OF FORCE IN METRO-DADE, FLORIDA, AND EUGENE AND SPRINGFIELD, OREGON, 1993-1995. ICPSR03152-v1. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina [producer], 2000. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2001. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03152.v1

Methodology

Study Purpose:
Collecting and interpreting information on
police use of force has been a persistent problem for police managers
and researchers. Although data on this issue are critical to both the
police and the public, the data remain difficult to collect, measure,
and interpret objectively. The Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act of 1994 requires the United States Attorney General
to collect information on law enforcement officers' use of
force. This act has led to an energetic effort to collect data on all
police use-of-force incidents, including excessive force, by various
groups and methods. This study gathered data on police use of force
in Metro-Dade, Florida, and Eugene and Springfield, Oregon. The study
differed from previous research in that it addressed the level of
force used by the police relative to the suspect's level of
resistance.

Study Design:
The data for Metro-Dade (Part 1) were collected
from official Metro-Dade Police Department Control of Persons Reports
from the last quarter of 1993 and all of 1994 and 1995. These data
were reported by the officer's supervisor after talking to the
officer, suspect, and available witnesses. The department's
computerized information database was used to create the dataset. The
Eugene and Springfield dataset (Part 2) was created from items in the
Police Officers' Essential Physical Work Report Form, which was
completed by members of the Eugene and Springfield Police Departments
during April 1995. The data included all police-citizen contacts,
rather than being limited to the use-of-force situations captured by
the Metro-Dade data.

Sample:
Not applicable.

Data Source:

Part 1: Official Metro-Dade Police Department Control of
Persons Reports. Part 2: Police Officers' Essential Physical Work
Report Form in the Eugene and Springfield, Oregon, Police Departments.

Description of Variables:
Part 1 (Metro-Dade Data), information on the
subject includes impairment (i.e., alcohol and drugs), behavior
(i.e., calm, visibly upset, erratic, or highly agitated), level of
resistance used by the subject, types of injuries to the subject, and
types of force used by the subject. Information on the officer
includes level of force used, medical treatment, and injuries. Other
variables include ethnic match between officer and the subject and
relative measures of force. Demographic variables include age,
gender, race, and ethnicity of both the subject and the officer. In
Part 2 (Oregon Data), information is provided on whether the officer
was alone, how work was initiated, elapsed time until arrival,
reasons for performance, perceived mental state and physical
abilities of the suspect, amount and type of resistance by the
suspect, if another officer assisted, perceived extent of effort used
by the suspect, type of resistance used by the suspect, if the
officer was knocked or wrestled to the ground, if the officer
received an injury, level of effort used to control the suspect,
types of control tactics used on the suspect, whether the officer was
wearing tactical gear, how restraint devices were applied to inmate,
time taken to get to, control, resolve, and remove the problem, how
stressful the lead-up time or the period following the incident was,
if the officer worked with a partner, types of firearm used, and if
force was used. Demographic variables include age, gender, weight,
and height of both the suspect and officer, and the officer's duty
position.

Response Rates:
Not applicable.

Presence of Common Scales:
Several Likert-type scales were used in Part 2.

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

Standardized missing values.

Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Version(s)

Original ICPSR Release:2001-11-02

Version History:

2006-03-30 File CB3152.ALL.PDF was removed from any previous datasets and flagged as a study-level file, so that it will accompany all downloads.

2005-11-04 On 2005-03-14 new files were added to one
or more datasets. These files included additional setup files as well
as one or more of the following: SAS program, SAS transport, SPSS portable,
and Stata system files. The metadata record was revised 2005-11-04 to
reflect these additions.

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